Partners
by danrdarrenc
Summary: Luke is a senior in high school and finds himself lab partners with the rude new boy, Reid Oliver. AU obviously.
1. Chapter 1

It was the first of September and the first day of school at Oakdale High School. The hallways were crowded and loud, full of returning students shouting greetings to their friends and teachers already disgruntled by the lack of obedience of the teenagers.

Luke Snyder was standing at his locker, entirely apprehensive about the coming year. It was his senior year, the year that should have been the best. But he had absolutely no idea how things were going to happen. He had come out over the summer and, while people – except Kevin, of course – said they were okay with his sexuality, Luke could feel the eyes of his peers boring into him, judging him. Listening to the sniggers of the other kids, Luke made a decision: this year was about getting the best grades he could and playing basketball as well as he could, if the team would still have him, that is. Sighing sadly, Luke shut his locker and made his way to his homeroom classroom, successfully avoiding having to talk to anyone he passed.

When he arrived at the classroom, Luke discovered that there was only one other person there so far – a new student it seemed, since Luke had never seen him before; Oakdale High was small so Luke pretty much knew all the students, if not by name then at least by sight. Not wanting to deal with his classmates walking past them on the way to their seats, Luke made his way to the back row and sat down next to the new kid.

Always eager to make new friends, especially now when he was so unsure of his status amongst his old ones, Luke introduced himself to the new boy.

"Hi, I'm Luke Snyder," Luke said, holding out his hand.

"Hi," the other boy said curtly, ignoring Luke's outstretched hand and burying himself in a science textbook.

Luke blinked rapidly, taken aback by the new boy's rudeness. Not one to be put off, though, Luke continued to attempt a conversation. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yep," the stranger said, still reading.

Luke was baffled at the boy's impolite manners, but persisted in trying to get him to talk.

"Are you a senior?"

"What are you, a cop?"

"No, I'm just trying to be friendly," Luke said defensively.

"Fine. You want to be friendly? I'm Reid Oliver. I'm a senior. My mother died three months ago and my father dragged me out here to this godforsaken town. I don't want to be here, so, if you don't mind, I'd really like it if you just left me alone."

Luke sat with his eyebrows raised, thoroughly and utterly appalled by the discourtesy of this new student.

"Alright, I'm sorry," Luke said, pouting and turning away from the boy while sliding down in his desk to a more comfortable position. Other seniors were filing into the classroom now and Luke was, by this time, ready for the first day of school to begin. He waved to Maddie Coleman as she entered the room, but he didn't have a chance to say hello to her.

A half an hour later, when the bell signaling the beginning of first period rang, Luke was the first out into the corridor even though he had been sitting in the back of the classroom. He quickly made his way down the hall to the next classroom. Unfortunately, just as he about to enter room 115 for his AP English class, Luke found himself face-to-face with Kevin Davis.

"Kevin, hi," Luke said nervously.

"Out of my way, Snyder," Kevin said rudely. "I'm late for class and it's at the other end of the hall."

"Can we talk at lunch, Kevin?" Luke asked.

"No. I really don't think so," Kevin said, stepping around Luke and walking away.

Luke clenched his teeth and walked into the classroom. He could see that this year was going to go splendidly. If Kevin didn't want anything to do with him, he was most definitely going to be booted off the basketball team. That also meant he was going to lose his friends from the team; at least he still had Maddie in his corner, or so he hoped since she had waved back at him in homeroom. Despite that, Luke could tell that he was going to have a very lonely senior year of high school. Sighing sadly again, Luke slipped into a desk at the back of the room and buried himself in his notebook.

An hour later, a slightly more cheerful Luke – English always made him happy – walked into the science lab for AP Biology. He immediately saw the new kid he been talking to in homeroom and steered his feet towards one of the two-person counter-like desks across the classroom. Luke was in no mood to deal with the boy's rudeness again.

Five minutes later, the teacher walked into the room and the talking students fell silent.

"Welcome to a new school year," Mr. Humderson said, cheerfully. "I'm sure you are _thrilled_ to be studying the fine art of AP Bio."

A few students chuckled, Luke included.

"I am also sure that you are aware this is no easy subject. In fact, it's incredibly difficult. That being the case, you will all be partnered with someone else. This will make your tasks of doing labs easier and will give you each someone go to for help, if necessary. You will not get to choose," Mr. Humderson reprimanded as some students started to gravitate towards their friends. "I have chosen partners for you."

The class groaned simultaneously, as he began to read off the names of the pairs he had created.

"Luke Snyder you will be with our newest student, Reid Oliver."


	2. Chapter 2

Luke sat in his chair staring dumbfounded at the teacher. Luke was friendly with at least half the kids in the class and he was partnered with the new boy who wanted nothing to do with him. _Of course_, Luke thought to himself. _Just another sign that this year is going to brilliant fun_. Reluctantly, Luke gathered up his books and his messenger bag, walked over to the counter-desk at which Reid Oliver sat and took the empty seat.

"Hi," Luke said in a falsely cheerful voice.

Reid rolled his eyes and opened the Bio textbook. Luke, in turn, rolled his eyes in annoyance and pulled his own textbook out of his bag.

Since it was the first class and there was no lab, there was no need for the two boys to work together; for forty-five minutes they sat in silence, Reid engrossed in the science book, Luke very occasionally staring off into space or doodling things in his notebook.

When the bell rang, Reid immediately scooted out of his chair and into the hallway. Luke hurriedly slid his book off the desk and followed the other boy. Halfway down the hall, Luke managed to catch up with Reid.

"Reid, wait!" Luke said. Reid grudgingly stopped and turned around to look at Luke.

"What do you want?" Reid barked.

"Look, for whatever reason, you don't seem to like me," Luke said. "I don't really care. But we're lab partners, which means that we're going to be spending forty-five minutes together five days a week, plus whatever time outside of class we need to do our labs. So, can we at least _try _and be friendly to each other? It will make things in Bio a lot easier."

Reid stared at Luke for a minute and then said, "Fine. But I don't want to be friends with you."

"That's fine," Luke said, smirking slightly.

"Good," Reid said, turning around and starting to walk away.

"One more thing," Luke said, following Reid who continued walking.

Reid gave Luke an annoyed look.

"I think we should have lunch together. You know, just to get to know each other," Luke said, smiling.

"You're joking, right?"

"No. I don't mean everyday. Just today," Luke said, still smiling.

Reid gaped at Luke in disbelief for a few seconds and then said, "Fine. Whatever. But it's only for today."

Luke nodded in understanding.

"And after that, I don't want to speak to you anytime other than class. You're incredibly annoying and I like peace and quiet," Reid said and stalked off.

Luke watched him go, staring wide-eyed at him.

"I have never met such a rude person in my entire life!" Luke said to himself, realizing for the first time that he was late for his next class. He hurried down to the other side of the school, pondering what he possibly could have done to make the new kid dislike him so much.

Two hours later, a hungry and disgruntled Luke walked into the cafeteria. He last two classes – Ancient History and Calculus – had been incredibly boring and had put Luke in a bad mood. He still had not seen any of his friends from the basketball team and none of them had made any attempt to say hello to him. So, it was good he was having lunch with Reid – no matter how grumpy and rude he was – because otherwise Luke would have been sitting alone (Maddie was sitting with some girls who were gossiping and he _really_ couldn't handle that at the moment).

Luke walked over to the lunch counter and received his daily dose of disgusting high school cafeteria food. While holding his tray, Luke quickly scoured the room, spotted Reid sitting by himself at a table by the window, and made his way through the crowd to the table.

"Hi," Luke chirped, putting his tray on the table and plopping down in the chair opposite Reid.

Reid glared at him.

Undeterred, Luke said, "So you're new to Oakdale. Do you like it here?"

"No," Reid said, putting a huge forkful of the meatloaf into his mouth.

"Where are you from?" Luke asked, taking a much smaller bite of his food.

"Boston," Reid said.

"You said earlier that your dad moved you here because your mom died," Luke said seriously. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever. I don't want your sympathy. It's overrated," Reid said, continuing to eat.

Luke was startled by Reid's lack of gratitude, but he kept up the conversation.

"You've been staring at the Bio textbook since this morning," Luke said. "Is science your favorite subject?"

Reid nodded and swallowed his food. "I'm going to med school after college."

"Really? You already know what you want to do?"

Reid sighed. He hated bearing his soul to people, but he was already immersed in this conversation. So, he said, "I want to be a brain surgeon. My mom died of a brain tumor."

Luke breathed in sharply.

"Wow. A brain surgeon. That's tough stuff," Luke said.

Reid nodded.

"It's good you're good at science because I'm not. I'm more of an English person. I like books and writing things," Luke said.

Reid rolled his eyes.

"Is there anything else you'd like to find out from this interrogation?" Reid asked.

"Where do you live?" Luke asked.

"By Luther's Corners," Reid said reluctantly.

"Oh! My family owns the farm over there!" Luke said enthusiastically.

"Great!" Reid said, giving Luke a sarcastically sincere smile. "Can I go now?"

Luke nodded and Reid immediately slung his backpack over his shoulder, grabbed his tray, and left the cafeteria.

"Well, he's a cheerful person," Luke mumbled to himself. "This should make my year even more interesting than it already was."

Shaking his head in frustration, Luke dumped the rest of his lunch in the garbage, waved a goodbye to Maddie, and made his way to his next class, despite being fifteen minutes early.


	3. Chapter 3

Later in the day, about an hour after the end of school, Luke was sitting in Olde Towne at a table outside of Java. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and a pen in the other; his hand was moving furiously across a page of the notebook lying open in front of him.

Suddenly, Luke felt arms enclose around his shoulders and a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Hi!" Maddie said perkily, releasing Luke and taking the seat across the table.

"Hi, Maddie," Luke said, giving his only friend a sincere smile.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to say hi to you at school," Maddie said.

"It's alright, Mad. We were together practically all summer. You were a big help when I was sick and then coming out," Luke said. "You really stood by me."

"I know. But it's different at school. Especially for you. I could see that you were lonely," Maddie said.

Luke nodded.

"The basketball team didn't talk to you?"

"Nope. I spoke to Kevin, though," Luke said.

"What did he say?"

"He told me to get out of his way and that he didn't have anything to say to me," Luke said, sighing.

"I'm sorry," Maddie said sympathetically.

"Don't. I knew it would be like this. It's why I didn't want to tell him I was in love with him."

"Well, even if Kevin chooses to be a douchebag, I'm sure the rest of the team will come around."

"I hope so. I really want to play. I missed it a lot when I went through the whole kidney thing," Luke said.

"Well, if they don't, we could always get Casey to beat them up until they agree," Maddie joked.

Luke chuckled.

"I should have paid more attention to you today," Maddie said, giving Luke an apologetic look.

"Nah. I'm tough. You have other friends," Luke said.

"Like the boy you were eating lunch with?" Maddie asked suggestively.

"Haha! Reid? No. Definitely not," Luke said, making a face. "He's new and I got stuck with him as my lab partner in AP Bio. I made him have lunch with me in an attempt to get to know him better."

"So you like him?" Maddie smiled at him.

Luke shook his head furiously. "He's the rudest, most stubborn jerk I've ever met. Well, except maybe Kevin," Luke added as an afterthought.

Maddie raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" Luke asked, his voice an octave higher than normal.

"You think he's interesting. You're baffled by his rudeness, so you're intrigued by him. Plus, you just said he reminds you of Kevin," Maddie said wisely.

"That does not mean that I have a crush on him!" Luke said, a little too loudly.

Maddie smiled in disbelief and said, "If you say so."

Luke scowled at his friend. "Come on, Maddie. After what happened with Kevin, I resolved that I wasn't ever going to fall for a straight guy again."

"How do you know he's not gay? Did you ask him?" Maddie countered.

"Well, no. He's not exactly the 'wear your heart on your sleeve' type of person. He didn't really seem like he wanted to bond with me and become BFFs," Luke said.

"That's absurd," Maddie said, laughing.

"I know right?" Luke said, smiling back, digging his phone out of his pocket because it had just buzzed against his leg.

"It's my dad. He needs me to pick up Natalie from her dance lesson," Luke said, closing his notebook and standing up.

"Okay. I should get home anyway. Henry's probably ready to send out a search party for me," Maddie said.

Luke chuckled.

"Don't worry about the team, Luke. I'm sure they'll come around," Maddie said, giving him a hug.

"Thanks," Luke said, returning the embrace. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Maddie nodded and walked away.

Luke watched her go for a few seconds and then stalked off to pick up his sister.


	4. Chapter 4

For nearly a month, Luke walked the halls of Oakdale High like a ghost. In fact, it seemed to him that he was invisible to the other students. No one other than Maddie talked to him, and almost everyone else just ignored him, not even stopping to give him dirty looks. He still had not been approached by the basketball team, though they had walked by each other quite frequently. Kevin had always been with them, though, so Luke hoped there was still a chance that they would talk to him when Kevin wasn't around.

His classes were no better. He liked the subjects fine, but even the teachers tended to pass him over for answers to their questions. However, though he would never admit it, Luke much preferred the cold shoulder he was receiving from virtually the whole school to Reid Oliver's snarky, rude comments about his ineptitude at Biology, which he was forced to endure for forty-five minutes everyday, plus labs.

One day in the last week of September, when he was in a particularly bad mood because he had been told that morning that his grandmother Lucinda's cancer had returned, Luke was sitting in one of their required afterschool AP Bio lab sessions. He was sitting next to Reid and they were attempting to catalyze enzymes. Luke had no idea what he was supposed to do, but Reid was furiously figuring out formulas and determining which substrate went into which enzyme. Unfortunately, Reid wasn't sharing his knowledge with Luke.

"Will you please tell me what we're supposed to be doing?" Luke asked, frustrated.

"Look in the book. The instructions are laid out in plain English. Only an idiot wouldn't be able to figure it out," Reid barked, still fiddling with numbers and models.

"What is your problem?" Luke retorted angrily.

"I'm working," Reid said, marking down the numbers and substrates he found to be correct.

"I know that!" Luke said loudly.

"Is there a problem, boys?" Mr. Humderson asked from his desk.

"No, sir," Luke said, giving him a reassuring smile. Reid shook his head at the teacher to reaffirm what Luke said.

"Look, just show me what you're doing. It'll go faster that way," Luke said, more quietly.

"Actually, I think it will go a lot faster if I do it myself," Reid said, returning to his work.

"We're supposed to work together. Learn from each other. And since I don't know what I'm doing, without your help, I'm not going to learn how to do this," Luke said reasonably.

"And that's my problem, how?" Reid asked, looking at Luke.

Luke gaped at him. Unfortunately, he could not think of a comeback.

"That's what I thought," Reid said, turning again to the lab.

"That's fine. I'll let you do all the work. Makes my life easier," Luke said, bending over his notebook and starting to doodle.

Reid gave Luke a very dirty look before setting about finishing the lab.

A half hour later, as soon as Mr. Humderson had dismissed them, Luke was out of the door in a heartbeat. When he was halfway down the corridor, Luke noticed that Reid was walking behind him.

Luke turned around and said, "Did you follow me so you could insult me some more?"

Reid stopped dead in his tracks.

"Uh, well…actually," Reid spluttered. He cleared his throat and started again, not looking at Luke and shifting his feet nervously. "Actually, I just wanted to say that I acted badly in lab and if you ever want help, just ask." With that, he turned right around and stalked off down the hall to the other end of the school.

Luke stood in the middle of the hallway, staring after Reid, his mouth agape in shock and surprise.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day in school neither Luke nor Reid mentioned the incident that had happened in the previous day's lab and afterwards; in fact, it wasn't until Halloween that the subject came up between the two boys at all.

Their first AP Bio test was in a week and Luke was beginning to panic. Although over the last couple weeks Reid had become more willing to slow down his work on the labs so he could follow along, Luke still had not managed to complete any of the labs on his own. He was now seriously wondering why he had decided to take the class – science really was _not _his thing – and then remembered that if he received a good grade on the AP test at the end of the year, he would be able to skip taking science again in college. Luke decided that was the _only_ reason he had taken this godforsaken class.

In today's lab, the two boys were once again sitting next to each other fiddling with dead fruit flies and Punnett squares. They were attempting to determine which genes would be passed on to offspring depending on which type of fly mated with which other type of fly. Luke was thoroughly confused.

"So if the red-eyed female fly mates with the white-eyed male fly, their offspring will have red eyes?" Luke asked Reid.

"Not necessarily," Reid said, pushing the piece of paper that held their Punnett squares towards Luke.

Luke took the hint and bent over the table slightly to see the paper better. Reid moved his stool slightly closer to Luke and also bent his head over the table. He was very aware that their cheeks were nearly touching. Quickly shaking off his sudden increase in heart beat, Reid stuck his hand over the paper and began motioning to the different squares, explaining them to Luke with patience.

"If a red-eyed female is a carrier for white eyes and she mates with a white-eyed male then two of the offspring will have red eyes and two will have white eyes." Reid drew out a new Punnett square in his attempt to make Luke understand.

Luke furrowed his brow. He was still confused. Just then Mr. Hudmel said, "It's 4:30. We're out of time. See you all on Wednesday and make sure to complete your labs."

Luke groaned and slowly started to pack up his bag, Reid following suit. When they were both in the hallway, Reid stopped suddenly and said, "Luke?"

"Hmm," Luke said, stopping and turning to face the other boy.

Reid was silent. Luke raised his eyebrows in anticipation.

Reid cleared his throat and said, "If you want I could, maybe, help you with the lab and studying for the test next week."

Luke blinked at him, surprised. "Really? I thought when you offered to help me last month you were joking."

Reid shook his head.

"Thanks. I really appreciate it," Luke said.

"We could do it tonight if you want," Reid offered boldly, more comfortable now that Luke was receptive to the idea.

"Tonight sounds good," Luke said. "Oh, wait! Dammit. Today's Halloween."

"So?" Reid asked. "Do you still go trick-or-treating?"

"No. But I promised my parents I would give out candy to trick-or-treaters," Luke said. "But that means I will be at home. We could do the studying thing at my house, if you want?"

"Yeah. Alright," Reid said.

Luke smiled slightly, pulled a pen out of his messenger bag, and walked over to Reid. Before he could even begin to process what Luke was doing, the blonde boy had grabbed Reid's hand and was writing his address on the back of his hand.

"That's my address and the phone number in case you get lost," Luke said, dropping Reid's hand and putting away his pen. "Come by at around eight. Most of the kids will be done begging for candy by then."

Reid nodded, waves of shock crashing over him about the electricity he had felt when Luke touched his hand.

"Okay. See you later then," Luke said and stalked off down the hallway.

Reid stood staring after him for a good ten minutes. He then pulled himself together and made his way out of the school, pondering whether or not he should stick to their study date.


	6. Chapter 6

By a quarter to eight that night, Luke was completely worn out from all of the trick-or-treaters showing up at his door; he was pretty sure that there were a lot more of them this year than usual. So at eight o'clock when the doorbell rang for what seemed like the ten millionth time, Luke was quite annoyed.

Groaning, Luke grabbed the giant bowl of candy, opened the door, and said, "Just take as much as you want."

"Thanks," Reid said, grabbing a handful of candy.

"Oh! Reid! What time is it?" Luke asked confused, stepping aside to let Reid inside the house.

"Eight," Reid said, now unwrapping a KitKat bar.

"Good. Maybe all the kids are at home now," Luke said, putting the candy bowl on the table where they usually ate breakfast. "My books are upstairs. I'll be right back. Make yourself at home."

Two minutes later, Luke was back in the living room with his science books and laptop. Reid was sitting on the couch, his books open, and eating more candy. Luke carelessly dropped his books onto the coffee table and sat down on the couch. Reid shifted nervously and moved a little farther away from Luke, but the blonde boy didn't notice.

"Okay. So how do we do this lab?" Luke asked, his attention fully on Reid.

Reid felt like he was being interrogated or he was on stage and had a spotlight shining on him. He blinked at Luke a few times and then turned his head to his Bio textbook.

"Well, you should probably read the instructions first. You know, what the lab book says we're supposed to do and what results we're supposed to come up with," Reid said, focusing intently on finding the page for the lab.

"I've done that. But I don't understand them," Luke said, flipping to the lab in his book.

Reid rolled his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Look don't get annoyed with me!" Luke said angrily. "I'm sorry if I'm not a future brain surgeon like you."

Reid clenched his teeth. "Do you know how to make Punnett squares?" Reid asked.

Luke nodded and said, "But I don't really know how they work."

"Okay. Take out a piece of paper and we can go one by one drawing the squares. If you draw them, maybe you'll understand better."

Luke obeyed Reid as if he was his teacher. He picked up a pencil and took a piece of paper out of his notebook. Luke then proceeded to draw the two-by-two, sometimes four-by-four, squares and lay out the different combinations of dominant and recessive genes, Reid occasionally helping him to match them up properly.

The two boys sat working on Punnett squares for about an hour – during which time Lily and Holden had come home with Natalie and Ethan, both toting giant bags of candy – before Luke finally seemed to have a grip on how they worked.

"I think I actually understand these now," Luke said.

"Good," Reid said, rubbing his eyes.

"Let's take a break before we start on the lab," Luke suggested.

"Sounds good." Reid leaned back on the couch and took another couple of pieces of candy.

"Do you want a drink?" Luke asked.

"Soda's fine," Reid said.

Luke got up and went into the kitchen. He came back a minute later with two sodas. He handed one to Reid and sat back down on the couch.

"So, do you like it any better here in Oakdale now that you've been here for a while?" Luke asked.

Reid was silent for a few seconds before answering. Then he said, "It's not Boston. But it's okay. I guess I've kind of gotten used to it. Were you born here?"

"Yep. I do hope to get out of Oakdale at some point in my life, but right now, I'm happy here. My family's all here and my friends. Or the one friend I have left anyway," Luke muttered.

Reid stared at Luke. "What do you mean?"

Luke looked at Reid and opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He took a couple sips of soda before slowly responding to Reid. "Over the summer, I –" Luke stopped and looked at Reid, who was listening intently. "Over the summer, I came out to my friends and only one of them continues to talk to me. I guess I won't be playing basketball next month," Luke said, not looking at Reid and fiddling with the can tab.

"Came…came out?" Reid asked quietly.

Luke again looked at Reid. He wasn't quite sure why he was telling this to Reid, but at the moment, even the presence of someone who only pretended to be friendly with him was comforting.

"Of the closet," Luke said slowly. "I'm gay."

Reid's eyes widened in shock.

"I'm sorry," Luke said, putting his soda down and pulling his lab book into his lap. "I shouldn't be dumping my problems on you. You really don't care."

Reid continued to stare at Luke, but didn't say anything. His mind and heart were both racing. _Luke is gay?_ Reid thought to himself. _Now what do I do?_

"Let's just get back to the lab," Luke said, not looking at Reid.

"Why did you decide to come out?" Reid asked. He had never been more interested in getting to know someone than he was with Luke.

Luke looked at him. "You really want to talk about my life?" Luke asked skeptically.

Reid nodded.

Luke blinked and then said, "I was drinking a lot to mask my struggling and I couldn't lie to myself or my parents anymore. Hiding was destroying me. So…I just told them. It was a lot harder to tell my friends, though. I knew they wouldn't want to talk to me anymore. And I was right," Luke said, almost absentmindedly.

Reid stayed silent after Luke had finished speaking. He was still wrestling with himself about whether or not to tell Luke about his own sexuality.

"Never mind. You wouldn't understand," Luke said, nervously doodling spirals in his notebook.

Without hesitation, Reid said, "Actually, I do."

Luke looked at him curiously.

This time it was Reid who opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again without saying anything. After a couple seconds, Reid said, "I've known I was gay since I was nine."

Luke's jaw dropped open in surprise at Reid's confession and he blinked rapidly in confusion.

When Luke didn't say anything, Reid took a deep breath and said, "I came out to my parents when I was fifteen. I didn't really have any friends to tell."

"Were your parents okay with it?" Luke asked.

"My mom was. My dad's still not too keen on the idea," Reid said. "Your's?"

"My dad kind of figured it out, so when I told them he was calm and supportive. Mom had a little harder time, but she came around after a few weeks."

Both boys had run out of things to say, so they sat in silence for a few minutes, both lost in thought. Finally, Luke said, "It's getting late. We should give this up for the night. We can work more on it tomorrow. I mean, if you want."

"Sure," Reid said, closing his book and standing up.

"Same time? Same place?" Luke asked, also standing up and following Reid to the door.

Reid nodded.

"I guess I'll see you in school, then," Luke said awkwardly, opening the door.

"Yeah," Reid said, walking out. But he stopped and turned around to say, "Listen, if you ever don't have anyone to eat lunch with, feel free to join me."

Luke smiled slightly and said, "Thanks."

The ends of Reid's lips twitched incomprehensibly upward just before he turned his back on Luke and walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

For the next couple weeks, Luke and Reid worked diligently together, Reid helping Luke to better understand AP Biology. The labs were getting increasingly more difficult and Luke was becoming increasingly more confused and frustrated. Reid, however, remained patient with him and took extra time outside of class to help. They still had not really had lunch together; with the season now upon them, the basketball team finally decided that they wanted to still be friends with Luke – even if Kevin didn't – so he had been sitting with them in the cafeteria.

One day towards the middle of November, a few days before Thanksgiving, Luke was standing in the cafeteria, ready to once again sit with the team, when he saw Reid sitting by himself. Since the guys had invited him back on the team, Luke had not given much thought to his lab partner, but now he felt bad, seeing him sitting alone. So, a minute later, Luke was plopping down in the chair opposite Reid.

"Hi," Luke said.

Reid stared at him. "Why aren't you sitting with the basketball team?"

"You looked lonely. And I felt bad for ditching you the way I did when they said they wanted me back," Luke said, smiling apologetically at Reid.

"I don't want your pity," Reid said.

"I don't feel sorry for you," Luke clarified. "To tell you the truth, I wanted to sit somewhere else. I feel really uncomfortable sitting at the same table as Kevin with him glaring at me nonstop."

"Which one's Kevin?" Reid asked, looking over at the table where the team sat.

"The short one who always rating the hotness of girls," Luke said, almost bitterly.

"Why's he always glaring at you?"

Luke looked at Reid. "He doesn't like that I had a major crush on him."

Reid stared at Luke without saying anything.

"He thinks I'm going to rape him or something," Luke said, half smiling and stuffing a forkful of spaghetti into his mouth.

Reid chuckled slightly, eating his own spaghetti.

"Anyway, we have another test after Thanksgiving break. Do want to study this weekend?" Luke asked.

"Aren't you doing Thanksgiving?" Reid asked.

"Well, yeah. But that's on Thursday. We can meet on, like, Saturday," Luke said.

"Sure. Your house again?" Reid asked. It had been their usual studying place.

"Actually, I'll be at the farm this weekend for Thanksgiving, since that's where we have the dinner. So we have to do it there. But, it's actually easier for you because it's right down the road from your house!" Luke said, excitedly. "Unless you want to do it at your place?"

"Can we do it at my house?" Reid asked, immediately. "It's our first holiday without my mom and I don't want to leave my dad alone this weekend."

"Of course," Luke said. "Are you doing a dinner?"

"I don't think so. My dad might order a turkey or something, but nothing big," Reid said, his brows furrowing, as the bell rang.

The two boys simultaneously stood up, dumped their trays on the conveyor belt, and walked into the hallway together.

"Do you miss your mom?" Luke asked boldly. He was sure Reid wouldn't want to talk about this sappy stuff, but he wanted to know.

Reid nodded a little, but didn't say anything and didn't look at Luke.

"I can't even imagine," Luke said.

"Can we not talk about it?" Reid asked gruffly.

"Sure," Luke said, stopping outside his next classroom.

"I'll see you lab," Reid said, stalking off down the hallway.

Luke watched Reid disappear into his AP Chemistry classroom before making his way into his own Spanish one.


	8. Chapter 8

When Saturday afternoon rolled around, Luke left the Snyder farm and made his way down the road to the house he knew belonged to Reid and his father. In fifteen minutes, he was ringing the doorbell. Two minutes later, Reid opened the door.

"Hi," Luke said, smiling slightly.

"Hi," Reid said, stepping aside to let Luke into the house.

As Reid closed the door behind him, Luke heard voices coming from another part of the house.

"My dad's got a business meeting," Reid said, almost apologetically.

"It's okay," Luke said kindly.

"Let's go to my room," Reid said. "It'll be easier to concentrate."

"Okay," Luke said, following Reid to his bedroom.

Once inside, Reid closed the door, drowning out the noise of his father's meeting. Luke stood looking around the room. There were lots of posters of scientists, especially Einstein and Freud. There was a lava lamp on his desk, along with models of different kinds of brains.

"Why the Astros?" Luke asked, indicating the poster of the baseball team plastered along one of the walls. "Why not the Red Sox, since you're from Boston?"

"I don't know," Reid said, digging his AP Bio textbooks out of one of his desk drawers. "My dad's from Houston. He's an Astros fan, so I guess I just picked up on it. I went to Red Sox games, but I never really followed them."

Luke let his bag drop to the floor and sat down on Reid's bed.

"Do you follow baseball?" Reid asked, walking over to Luke.

"The Cubs," Luke said.

Reid dropped his books onto the floor and sat down at the foot of the bed. Luke slid off the bed onto the floor and pulled his own books out of his bag.

Reid was painfully aware that they were sitting very close together. On the pretext of having to get a pencil, Reid got up and sat back down across from Luke.

"What do you want to do?" Reid asked.

"I don't know. You're the better one," Luke said. "You choose."

"Well, we have a test next week," Reid said. "So we should probably study for that."

"Sounds good," Luke said, flipping open his textbook. "What do you want to start with?" Luke asked, looking up at Reid, who quickly looked away and opened his own book.

Luke blinked and furrowed his brows in confusion, but didn't say anything.

Reid cleared his throat and said, "How about we work on the classification of organisms?"

"Is that the King Philip thing?" Luke asked.

"Yes, Luke," Reid said with a sigh, his patience already starting to wear.

Luke gave Reid a dirty look, but he didn't see.

An hour later, Luke still could not remember whether Class came before or after Genus or if _homo sapiens_ was the Phylum or Order of humans.

"Ugh," Luke said, dropping the back of his head onto Reid's bed and closing his eyes. "This is useless. I just don't understand science."

"You're not trying!" Reid said emphatically, but not unkindly.

"I am!" Luke retorted, lifting his head off the bed to look at Reid and crossing his arms over his chest. "It's just your brain is made for this stuff and mine isn't."

"Then you have to do things to help make it easier for yourself," Reid said. "Look, you're good with words, right?"

Luke nodded.

"So make up a pneumonic device," Reid said.

"One of those acronym things?" Luke asked.

Reid nodded. "There's already the King Philip, but it'll be easier for you to remember if you make one up yourself."

He pulled a piece of paper out of his notebook and wrote down the letters K, P, C, O, F, G, and S from top to bottom. He shifted his position on the floor so he was a little closer to Luke, but not close enough to make his heart hammer at rate that was not healthy.

Luke took the paper from Reid, their fingertips accidentally brushing against each other. Both boys dropped the paper in surprise at the contact.

"Sorry!" Luke apologized, flustered, picking up the paper that had fallen to the floor.

"Don't worry about it," Reid said quietly, staring at Luke.

Luke cleared his throat nervously and said, "Um, let's think of something funny. I'll remember it if it makes me laugh."

Reid nodded, but stayed silent. His mind was racing with the possibility that Luke was into him as much as he was into Luke.

They were silent for about ten minutes as Luke thought about his pneumonic device. Suddenly, Luke said, "Okay. I think I have something. How about this? 'Kings Play Chess On a Flying Green Saucer'."

Reid blinked at Luke for a second and then burst into laughter. Luke also burst into laughter.

After a couple minutes, Luke stopped laughing, but Reid kept chuckling.

"Do you know what it means, though?" Reid asked, a smile still playing on his lips.

"Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species," Luke recited dutifully.

Reid nodded and shifted so he was also leaning against his bed.

"Why do like this stuff?" Luke asked, looking at Reid.

"Why do you like reading and writing stuff?" Reid countered, raising his eyebrows at Luke.

"I asked first," Luke said, smirking.

Reid narrowed his eyes at the blonde boy, but the ends of his mouth twitched upward.

"I don't know. I remember being a little kid and always wanting to play with bugs and things. Science was always most interesting to me in elementary school. It was always the homework I wanted to do first," Reid said.

Luke chuckled. "I always procrastinated doing my science homework. I would spend hours reading books before my mom made me do it."

Reid smiled a little. "I never wanted to read the books I was assigned. I still don't."

Luke smirked.

They were silent for a few minutes, sitting side-by-side against Reid's bed. Then Luke said, "It's getting late. I should go. Grandma hates when people are late for dinner."

Reid nodded and stood up.

Still sitting on the floor, Luke closed his books and stuffed them back into his messenger bag, which was on Reid's bed. Just as he was about to get up, Luke realized Reid was holding his hand out to help him get off the floor.

"Thanks," Luke said, taking Reid's hand and letting him pull him up. When Luke popped up off the floor, the two boys were standing mere inches apart from each other, their hands still interlocked.

They both stood stock still, their hearts beating a hundred miles a minute. Reid was breathing as if he had just run a marathon and Luke's lips were slightly parted. They stared at each other for no more than a couple seconds; then, as if in slow motion, the two boys simultaneously closed the gap between their faces, their lips connecting in a gentle kiss.


	9. Chapter 9

After a few seconds, the two boys broke apart. Luke stared wide-eyed at Reid, whose heart was hammering so hard against his chest he was sure Luke could hear it. They were still holding hands.

"I have to go," Luke said, pulling his hand out of Reid's. He grabbed his bag off of Reid's bed and practically ran out of Reid's room and out of the house.

Ten minutes later, Luke barreled through the doorway of the kitchen of the Snyder farm. Thankfully, Emma had not started cooking dinner yet; no one was around, so Luke ran up the stairs to his room.

Once inside, he slammed the door behind him, dropped his bag onto the floor, and collapsed backwards onto his bed so he was staring at the ceiling.

Both his mind and his heart were racing, both because of what happened in Reid's bedroom. Luke unconsciously brushed his fingers across his lips. It had been his first real kiss, but he had certainly never envisioned it being with Reid.

"Or did I?" Luke mumbled to himself, his fingertips still tickling his lips. Now that he thought it about, he had been slowly crushing on Reid since they had met, but he just had never realized it. "My god, I'm an idiot. Now what do I do?"

He grabbed his cell phone out of his bag and dialed Maddie's phone number.

"Maddie?" Luke said when the line was picked up. "Can you come over to the farm for dinner? I need your advice. Thanks. See you in a few."

Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on Luke's bedroom door and Maddie walked inside.

"Hi," Maddie said, closing the door behind her. "Your grandmother said dinner will be ready in twenty minutes."

"Fine," Luke said anxiously.

"Luke? Are you alright?" Maddie asked, sitting down on the bed next to Luke.

Luke shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Maddie asked, concerned.

"Reid kissed me. Or, well, technically, I guess, we kissed each other," Luke said rapidly.

Maddie's eyes widened in surprise.

"When!"

"A half an hour ago," Luke said.

"I thought you didn't like him?" Maddie said, smirking, her eyebrows raised.

"I – I didn't think I did," Luke said. "But that was just me being in denial."

"So you do like him?" Maddie asked, smiling.

Luke nodded.

"So what's the problem? He obviously likes you, too."

"I, um, I kind of ran out of his house afterwards," Luke said, grinning sheepishly.

Maddie giggled.

"Why are you laughing?" Luke asked indignantly.

"Because you're cute," Maddie said. Luke scowled at her. "What advice did you want?"

"What should I do? Should I call him?"

"I think you should go back to his house tomorrow and talk about it. Or kiss. Whatever floats your boat," Maddie said.

Luke snorted and pushed Maddie so she fell sideways onto the empty part of the bed, just as Emma called up to them that dinner was ready.

The next morning, Luke woke up determined to go back to Reid's house and apologize…and maybe kiss. He quickly got out of bed and went down into the kitchen where he was immediately greeted by Emma with a steaming hot plate of pancakes and maple syrup.

Two hours later, Luke was standing outside the door of Reid's house. After twice dropping his hand, Luke finally pressed the doorbell. Just as Luke had decided that no one was home, the door opened and he was face-to-face with Reid.

"Hi," Luke said almost breathlessly.

"Hi," Reid said. Luke registered the hurt in his voice.

"Can we talk?" Luke asked.

Reid stepped aside and let Luke into the house.

"Is your dad here?" Luke asked, trying to break the ice as he followed Reid into the living room.

"He's food shopping," Reid said stiffly, standing ten feet away from Luke and fiddling with a chess board, which lay on the coffee table.

"Listen, about yesterday," Luke ventured.

"We kissed. You ran out. Let's just forget it, okay?" Reid said gruffly.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run out on you like that," Luke said.

Reid stared at him.

"I was flustered and confused," Luke continued. "It was – it was the first time I'd ever really kissed someone and had it feel real," Luke confessed, moving a little closer to Reid.

Reid still said nothing, but his lips were parted slightly.

"I mean, I'd kissed girls before but somehow those never felt quite right."

The ends of Reid's turned up into a tiny smile. "What are you saying?" Reid asked.

"How long have you liked me?" Luke asked, stepping even closer to Reid.

"Second or third time I saw you," Reid said almost instantly, a little breathlessly as Luke continued to inch ever closer to him.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I – I didn't know if you were gay. And, then, I – I didn't know if you felt the same way," Reid said, stammering over his words because Luke was a foot away from him. "People – people don't usually like me."

"I like you," Luke said seductively but seriously.

"You – you do?" Reid spluttered. Luke was a half a foot away from him now.

Luke nodded and closed the remaining gap between them. Reid let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a moan as Luke's lips connected with his own. Immediately, Reid snaked his arms around Luke's waist and pulled him closer. Luke wrapped his arms around Reid's neck at the same time that his tongue slipped into Reid's mouth and Reid responded in kind enthusiastically.

Eventually, the two boys broke apart, both gasping for air.

"Wow," Luke said breathlessly, smiling at Reid, his arms still around the curly-haired boy's neck.

Still breathing heavily, Reid grinned back at him.

"My dad'll be home soon," Reid said.

"My parents are probably wondering where I am," Luke replied, though he didn't make any move to leave. Sure enough, Luke's cell phone started buzzing in his pocket.

Luke smirked and released Reid's neck so he could answer his phone.

"Hi, Mom," Luke said into his phone. "Okay. I'll be there in ten minutes." He hung up the phone. "I have to go," Luke said to Reid apologetically.

Reid nodded in understanding and regretfully let go of Luke's waist.

"I'll call you later?" Luke asked, walking with Reid back to the front door.

Reid nodded and smiled, opening the door for Luke.

Luke swiftly kissed Reid again before leaving the house.


	10. Chapter 10

Ten minutes later, Luke practically skipped into the kitchen of the Snyder farm.

"Hi, Mom," Luke chirped to his mother who was sitting at the table. He bounced over to her and pecked her cheek.

"Hello," Lily said, surprised. "You're very cheerful."

"Mmhm," Luke agreed, digging through the fridge for a snack.

"You want to tell me why?" Lily asked.

Luke pulled his head of the refrigerator and looked at his mother.

"You sure you want to know?"

"Of course."

"Alright," Luke said, closing the fridge door without taking out anything. "It's because of a guy."

"Do I know him?" Lily asked, genuinely interested.

"A little. Remember Reid?" Luke's eyes twinkled when he said his name. "The guy I was studying with on Halloween?"

"Your lab partner?" Lily asked, smiling a little.

Luke nodded and his lips tugged upward into a smile.

"You like him?"

"We kissed," Luke blurted out, unable to contain himself any longer.

"Oh!" Lily said, surprised. "That's wonderful!"

Luke grinned at his mother from ear to ear. "Just now. That's where I was when you called." He was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

"I'm incredibly happy for you," Lily said, walking over to Luke and giving him a big bear hug. "And I would love to hear more about him, but I really do have to get to this meeting at the Lakeview. Faith is out with friends, but Natalie and Ethan are in the living room watching a movie. Your dad should be back in about an hour. You'll be alright watching them until then?"

Luke nodded and smiled again at Lily.

"Okay." She kissed him on the cheek and left the farm.

Luke peeked into the living, saw Natalie sitting quietly with Ethan on her lap watching a movie, and went up to his room to get a book.

As he settled onto the couch with his book to half-consciously watch Natalie and Ethan's movie, Luke's phone buzzed with a text message. He pulled his phone of his pocket and saw it was from Reid: _Hi :)_

Luke smiled and responded: _Hey there :)_

A minute later, Luke's phone buzzed again: _Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your visit this morning. ;)_

_Me too ;) _Luke texted back.

"What are you doing?" Natalie asked. Luke's chuckling had pulled her attention away from _The Lion King_.

"Nothing," Luke said.

"You were texting someone," Natalie said.

"No I wasn't. I was setting my alarm for tomorrow," Luke lied.

"No you weren't! You were texting with someone," Natalie insisted. It was at times like these that he wished Natalie didn't share his stubbornness.

"Fine, Miss Noseypants. I was texting a friend," Luke said.

"Are they a boy?"

Luke scowled at his sister.

"Maybe."

"Luke? Are you here?" Holden's voice called from the kitchen, saving Luke from further interrogation by his little sister.

Luke got off the couch and walked into the other room to greet his father.

"Hi, Dad," Luke said.

"Oh, good. I need your help with something," Holden said.

"Sure."

"Did I tell you I'm having the farm expanded? Building more grazing land, more stables, and more space for riding lessons?"

"No."

"Well, now you know," Holden said with a little laugh. "Anyway, I need you to drop off some paperwork at the architect's house for me."

"Sure."

"Great. He lives just down the road," Holden said. "Him and his son live in that house that was abandoned for years. They moved in over the summer."

"Are you talking about the Olivers?" Luke asked, his mouth dropping open in shock.

"Yeah. Why?" Holden asked, giving Luke a curious look.

"Do you remember the boy I was studying with on Halloween?" Luke asked, failing at containing a smile.

Holden nodded.

"That's Reid Oliver. Your architect's son."

"Oh! Yep. I think he mentioned that his son was in one of your classes with you."

"Reid was telling his dad about me?" Luke definitely smiled this time.

"I guess so. Why?"

"There, might, sort of be something going on between us," Luke mumbled.

"Excuse me? Do you want to repeat that?" Holden asked.

"Reid and I might sort of be dating," Luke said, smiling at his father.

"Sort of?" Holden asked, though he was smiling.

"Well, we just kissed. So we haven't really talked about it," Luke said, but he was still grinning.

"You should get on that," Holden said. "Not talking about it got me and your mother into all sorts of trouble."

Luke laughed. "Do you have the paperwork you wanted me to give Reid's dad?"

"Hmmm. On second thought, maybe I'll bring it over myself," Holden said, pulling the envelope away from Luke.

"Dad!"

Holden laughed and handed the folder to Luke.

"I need it back by nightfall, so don't get too distracted," Holden said, as Luke left the farm.


	11. Chapter 11

Luke nearly ran down the road and was ringing the Olivers' doorbell in less than ten minutes.

A minute later, Reid opened the doorway and smiled when he saw it was Luke.

"Hi!"

"Hi," Luke said, smiling back.

"I thought your mom needed you?" Reid asked, closing the door behind Luke.

"She did. But my dad needed me to drop off paperwork at his architect's house," Luke said.

Reid stared at him, confused.

"It appears that your dad is working for my dad," Luke clarified.

Reid's mouth formed an O. Luke chuckled.

"That's the reason I'm here," Luke said. "Is he here?"

"Dad! It's for you!" Reid shouted upstairs, while he accidentally-on-purpose brushed his hand against Luke's.

Luke smiled a little, as Reid's father came down the stairs.

"Dad, this is Luke Snyder," Reid introduced.

"Hello, Mr. Oliver," Luke said, holding out his hand.

Charles Oliver gave his son and Luke suspicious looks, while he shook Luke's hand.

"My dad is Holden Snyder," Luke said. "He asked me to drop off some paperwork for you about the expansion of the farm."

"Ah, yes. Thank you," Mr. Oliver said, taking the envelope from Luke. "I'll sign these and get them back to you in five minutes." He went into the kitchen, leaving Luke and Reid alone in the entryway.

As soon as his dad was out of earshot, Reid turned to Luke and said rather rapidly, "I know it's Sunday and we have school tomorrow, but doyouwannagoonadatewithme?"

Despite Reid's words coming out as one really long one, Luke understood completely what he had said. He smiled and said, "I would love to go on a date with you."

Reid grinned, just as his father came back into the foyer with the envelope for Holden.

"Here you go. Tell your dad I'll be at the farm bright and early tomorrow," Mr. Oliver said, handing the envelope back to Luke.

"I will do that. Thank you, sir," Luke said.

"Nice meeting you," Mr. Oliver said gruffly and headed back upstairs to his office.

"Sorry," Reid said apologetically. "He can be a little curt. Especially since my mom died."

"It's okay," Luke said, smiling a little. "Were you serious about the date tonight?"

Reid nodded.

"How about bowling? Like you said, it is a school night," Luke said.

"There's a bowling alley here?" Reid asked, surprised that Oakdale would actually have something fun.

Luke laughed. "Yes, there is a bowling alley in Oakdale. It's by Memorial Hospital."

"I'll be at your farm at eight," Reid said immediately.

"I will see you then," Luke said happily and left the house.

By a quarter to eight that night, Luke was very on edge. He was pacing back and forth in the kitchen of the Snyder farm and he was driving his father crazy.

"Luke!" Holden said, exasperated, though he was smiling. "You're going to wear the floor out."

"Sorry, Dad," Luke said, sitting down at the table.

But two minutes later, he popped up and started pacing the floor again, just as his mother came down the stairs.

"Nervous?" Lily asked, also smiling.

"And excited," Luke said, coming to a halt in front of his mother. "Mostly nervous."

"Why? You've been spending hours on end with him for months," Lily said.

"I know. But this is different. This is a date," Luke said, his eyes lighting up as he said it. "Do I look alright?"

"You look lovely," Lily said, kissing her son's cheek.

Luke smiled. "Really? I think I should change," Luke said, stepping around his mother.

"Luke!" Lily said, grabbing his hand. "You look fine."

"Are you sure?"

Lily nodded, as there was a knock on the door.

Luke hurried to open the door for Reid,

"Hi," Luke greeted.

"Hi," Reid said, a little breathlessly. "Ready?"

Luke nodded.

"Have fun," Holden said.

"Be home by eleven," Lily said.

Luke waved goodbye to his parents and followed Reid off the farm.


	12. Chapter 12

The two boys walked silently side-by-side for a few minutes, until Reid said, "You look nice."

Luke blushed a little and said, "Thank you. So do you."

Reid smiled slightly and said, "Do you know where we're going?"

"It's on the edge of Olde Towne, a few blocks from the hospital," Luke said.

"A bowling alley near a hospital? That's interesting," Reid said sarcastically as they entered Olde Towne.

Luke chuckled.

"Did you eat?" Reid asked, coming to a sudden halt.

"A little," Luke said.

"Let's ditch the bowling and have food," Reid suggested, pointing at Al's Diner.

"You like eating, don't you?" Luke asked, following Reid into the diner.

"It is my all-time favorite pastime," Reid said, sitting down in one of the booths with Luke opposite him.

"I'll keep that in mind," Luke said, as the owner Henry Coleman approached their table with menus.

"Hello, Luke," Henry said, handing him a menu.

"Hi, Henry," Luke said. "This is Henry, Maddie's older brother," Luke explained to Reid.

"Reid," Reid introduced himself, taking a menu from Henry.

"Whenever you're ready boys," Henry said and walked away.

"You know, the first time I ate here I was really surprised that they have such good food," Reid said, after they had order burgers and fries.

"So was I," Luke said. "When Maddie first told me that Henry had bought this place, I thought for sure he was going to run it into the ground. Turns out he's got a knack for running a diner."

"Yeah, the food is delicious," Reid said, as Henry placed their food on the table.

"I like this one," Henry chimed in, pointing at Reid but looking at Luke.

Luke smiled at Henry.

"Enjoy," Henry said, walking back to the counter.

Reid took a huge bite of his hamburger, while Luke dumped ketchup onto his own fries.

"Can I ask you something?" Luke asked.

Reid nodded.

"Was it horrible when your mom died?"

Reid stopped eating and blinked at Luke. He was quiet for a minute and then said, "I don't know. I wasn't there when it happened. I was in school."

"I'm sorry," Luke said.

"The aftermath was horrible, though," Reid said, while eating some fries. "My dad wouldn't talk to me at all. I think the first time he spoke to me after she died was when he told me we were moving here."

"Why wouldn't he talk to you?" Luke asked, confused.

"He was still pretty uncomfortable with my sexuality and I think on some level he blamed me for her death."

"That's horrible! It was a brain tumor! It's not like you're a neurosurgeon yet," Luke said.

Reid was silent again, eating more of his burger. "I know. But she was diagnosed right after I came out to them. I think he felt it was a punishment or something," Reid said quietly, not looking at Luke.

"But he seems okay with you now," Luke said, frowning slightly.

"It's getting better. We're still not hanging out and playing catch the way we used to, but he's making an effort to get things back on track," Reid said, as the door to the restaurant clanged open.

Luke saw out of the corner of his eye that Kevin and his girlfriend Liv had come through the door and were coming over to the table.

"Hey, Snyder," Kevin said, coming to a halt next to their table.

"Hello, Kevin," Luke said, clenching his teeth together.

"You're that new kid, right?" Kevin said, addressing Reid. "You better be careful. Don't spend too much time with him or Snyder, here, might try and turn you into one of him." Liv laughed.

"Lucky for him, I already am," Reid said in a heartbeat. The smile faded off of Kevin's face.

"Let's go, Luke. I'm not hungry anymore," Reid said, throwing a twenty dollar bill on the table and pushing his way past Kevin.

Luke gave Kevin one very dirty look and followed Reid out of the diner.

"Sorry about him," Luke said to Reid.

"Is he always like that?"

"Since I came out to him. Yeah," Luke said. "And when he's not going on about me trying to convert people, he's talking very loudly about how hot girls are and how great he is at getting laid."

"Idiot pig," Reid mumbled, coming to a halt in front of the glass window of Al's. "She actually likes him?" Reid asked, nodding his head at Liv who was sitting with her back to the window.

"She follows him around like a puppy dog," Luke said, turning his back on Kevin and Liv.

"He seems incredibly bored," Reid said, as Kevin looked away from Liv and saw them through the glass.

Reid stared at Kevin for a second and then grabbed Luke's face, kissing him hard. Luke froze for a second out of surprise, then wrapped his arms around Reid's waist and responded enthusiastically to the kiss.

When they broke apart, Luke smiled and rested his forehead against Reid's, his eyes still closed. "I like kissing you," Luke said.

Reid smiled. "I like kissing you, too."

"Sorry about Kevin," Luke said, looking at Reid.

"Whatever. He's a jerk," Reid said. "We still have an hour until we have to be home. How about losing at bowling?" Reid smirked.

"You're on, Oliver!" Luke said, grinning.

"Lead the way," Reid said.

Luke grabbed Reid's hand and pulled him away from outside of Al's towards Oakdale Lanes.


	13. Chapter 13

The next day Luke bounced into AP Bio and sat down in the chair next to Reid.

"Hi!"

"Hi," Reid said, smiling.

"I had a lot of fun last night," Luke said. "Even if I did lose at bowling."

Reid smirked. "I had fun, too. We should do it again sometime."

Luke nodded and smiled, as the room started to fill up with the other students.

Forty-five minutes later, the bell rang and Luke and Reid walked together into the hallway. They had different classes for the rest of the day until lab and were about to part ways when Reid said, "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" Reid said.

"Of course," Luke said, smiling.

Reid stared silently and the blonde, who looked at him in anticipation. After a few seconds, Reid said rapidly, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

Luke nodded furiously and threw his arms around Reid's neck, despite the fact that they were in the hallway surrounded by dozens of their classmates. Reid sighed in relief and returned the hug.

The second warning bell rang and the two boys regretfully let go of each other.

"I'll see you in lab," Reid said.

"I look forward to it," Luke said, grinning from ear to ear.

Reid swiftly kissed Luke's cheek and walked down the hallway to his next class, Luke doing the same in the opposite direction.

Luke walked into his English class and found that he was still one of the first to arrive. He made his way to one of the seats in the middle of the classroom and sat down. Two seconds later, Luke watched as Kevin made a beeline for the desk right next to his.

"What do you want, Kevin?" Luke said even before Kevin had sat down.

"This is a seat. I want to sit in it," Kevin retorted.

"There are a dozen other empty desks," Luke said. "You chose this one. So what do you want?"

"Nothing," Kevin said, sitting down.

Luke rolled his eyes and opened up the book that lay on his desk.

"Is he – you know – your – are you two together?" Kevin asked, seemingly nonchalantly.

"Yes," Luke answered flatly, still reading his book as the rest of the students filed into the classroom, closely followed by their teacher. "Why do you even care, Kevin?"

Kevin didn't have the chance to respond, though, because class was starting.

Forty-five minutes later, as they were leaving the classroom, Kevin followed Luke. "Snyder, wait up!"

Luke reluctantly stopped. "What, Kevin? I have to get to lab."

"I never answered your question," Kevin said.

"Whatever, Kevin. You've made it very clear you want nothing to do with me. So just leave me and Reid alone, okay?" Luke said and stalked off to Bio lab.

Two minutes later, Luke dropped into the seat next to Reid's.

"Hi," Reid said.

"Hi," Luke huffed.

"What's wrong?" Reid asked, frowning.

"Kevin," Luke said shortly.

"What about him?"

"All of the sudden he wants to talk to me again," Luke said. "Like it's any of his business if we're dating."

"Ignore him. He's a jerk and a pig," Reid said, flipping open his lab book.

"Yeah," Luke mumbled, opening his own lab book.

After an hour and a half of dutifully and silently working on their lab, Reid finally finished marking down their data. When they were dismissed, the two boys walked into the hallway. Luke started to walk away, but Reid slid his hand into Luke's and followed him.

"Luke, are you alright?" Reid asked, concerned.

Luke didn't answer immediately. After a minute, he said, "Of all the people I had hoped would stand by me after I came out, Kevin was the one person I wanted to accept me most."

"Why?" Reid asked. "Because – because you liked him?"

"Not even," Luke said, as they walked out of the school and towards Olde Towne. "We'd been best friends since we were two. Would you stop being friends with someone after nearly fifteen years just because they came out of the closet?"

"No…" Reid said slowly. "But I wouldn't be uncomfortable your crush on me." Reid grinned.

Luke snorted in laughter and smiled. He stopped walking and turned to face Reid. "No, you wouldn't, would you?"

Reid shook his head and pulled Luke closer so he could kiss him.

When they broke apart, Reid said, "Don't let him get to you. You know he was never truly your friend or he wouldn't have stopped talking to you when you came out. You're better off without him."

Luke nodded and hugged Reid.

"Come on, I'll walk you home," Reid said.

Luke let go of Reid's neck and slipped his hand into one of Reid's, as the two boys made their out of Olde Towne.


	14. Chapter 14

A few weeks later, Luke and Reid were sitting side-by-side on Luke's bed, AP Biology textbooks, notebooks, and lab manuals spread out in front of them. They had been at studying for their exam for a couple of hours and Luke's brain was not functioning anymore.

Frustrated and exhausted, Luke dropped his pencil onto his book and leaned his head back against his headboard, closing his eyes.

"Let's take a break," Luke said.

"Alright," Reid said, also leaning against the headboard of the bed. "What do you want to do?"

Luke looked at Reid and smiled mischievously. "Make out?"

Reid grinned and immediately attacked Luke's lips with his own. Luke briefly smiled into the kiss and then responded enthusiastically, his tongue begging for access to Reid's mouth. Reid opened his mouth and slid his own tongue into Luke's mouth.

All of the sudden, Luke was sliding down on the bed into a lying position, Reid on top of him, his arms wrapping around Reid's neck. Luke moaned slightly as Reid's lips moved from his own to his neck. Luke entwined his fingers in Reid's hair and stretched out his neck to give Reid more skin on which to trail kisses. Reid smiled against Luke's neck and started moving back up towards his face.

As soon as they were kissing again, Luke flipped them over so he was on top of Reid. Reid broke the contact for a second to smile and mutter, "Oof!" Luke smiled swiftly and then was once again attacking Reid's lips. Just as he was making his way across Reid's jawbone and down his neck, a voice floated up to them from downstairs.

"Luke? Are you here?" Lily's voice said.

Hearing footsteps on the stairs, the two boys quickly extricated themselves from each other and hastily picked up the books from the floor.

A minute later, Lily stood in the doorway, staring at Luke and Reid who were doing nothing more than innocently studying Biology, though they were both breathing more heavily than the act of reading books usually required.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Studying," Luke replied a little breathlessly, giving his mother a dazzling smile. "We've got a test on Monday."

"Okay," Lily said, giving the two boys a suspicious look. "Well, dinner will be ready in an hour. You're welcome to stay, Reid," Lily said, turning around and walking back down the stairs.

"Thank you. I will," Reid said, as Lily disappeared.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Luke burst into laughter and Reid grinned.

"We really should get back to studying," Luke said, placing the heavy textbook on his lap.

"I like our more…interactive style of studying Biology," Reid said, kissing Luke's neck again.

Luke chuckled and swatted his hand at Reid, shooing him away from his neck. Reid simultaneously smiled and pouted and flipped open his own textbook.

A few days later, Luke and Reid were walking through Olde Towne after their last day of school before Christmas and New Year's vacation.

"Do you want to get some coffee?" Luke asked, pointing to Java.

Reid nodded and followed Luke into the coffee shop.

When they had ordered and received their cups, the two boys sat down at one of the tables by the window.

"What are you doing Sunday for Christmas?" Luke asked.

"Nothing, really. Probably just going to have dinner with my dad," Reid said. "Why?"

Luke looked at Reid and blushed a little. "I thought – I thought maybe you and your dad could, maybe, spend Christmas with me and my family. At the farm."

Reid blinked at Luke. "Really?"

"You – you don't – don't have to if you don't want to," Luke stuttered, backtracking.

"I do," Reid said. Luke grinned. "But what about your parents?"

"I already asked them. My grandmother said it's fine. I mean, your dad works at the farm. They'd like to use Christmas as a thank you," Luke said, relieved, digging his phone out of his pocket as it buzzed.

"I have to pick Natalie up from her dance lesson," Luke said, reading the text message from his mother.

"I'll walk with you to the dance studio," Reid said, standing up and slugging his bag over his shoulder. "It's on the way home."

Luke smiled and followed Reid out of the coffee shop.


	15. Chapter 15

Sunday morning, Luke was in a frenzy of excitement. Christmas had always been his favorite holiday, between the delicious food and all the presents and just spending time with his family. But today he was even more excited to be spending Christmas with his boyfriend – his _boyfriend_!

Even after a month of dating Reid, Luke still could not believe that it was real. He had been so sure that he would never find someone whose face would light up when he walked into a room or someone who would call him just to say "hi," even though they had seen each other an hour before.

But then there was Reid. And Reid smiled every time he walked into a room and saw him there. And Reid called or texted him just to say "hi," even though they had just left school twenty minutes ago. And Reid entwined their fingers together in the school hallways and didn't give a damn if the other kids glared at them. And now he was getting to share his family Christmas with Reid. And he loved that. No – he loved _Reid_.

Luke was so sure he was going to burst with happiness and excitement at this realization, when there was a knock on his door. A second later, Lily peeked her head into his room.

"Reid and his dad are here, sweetie," Lily said.

Luke beamed and followed his mother down into the kitchen.

"Hi," Luke said, walking over to Reid.

"Hi," Reid said, giving Luke a quick kiss on the cheek and slipping his hand into Luke's.

Luke smiled as his heart fluttered.

"Thank you for inviting us," Charles Oliver said to Lily.

"Don't be silly," Lily said, waving her hand as if to swat away his words. "You're fixing up this place. Emma felt it was necessary that she show you her appreciation by feeding you."

Luke chuckled.

"Not to mention that our sons are dating," Lily said and Luke blushed in embarrassment.

"How about we go see what trouble Natalie and Ethan are getting up to?" Luke said quickly and dragged Reid into the living room.

Lily and Charles remained talking in the kitchen, waiting for Holden to come in from the stables.

Luke and Reid found that Natalie and Ethan were not in the living room.

"That's odd," Luke said, coming to a halt. "They're usually lying under the tree opening their presents."

"Looks like they already did that," Reid said, pointing to the bottom of the tree. "There are only a few presents left."

"I missed it!" Luke said, pouting. "They usually wake me up at like five in the morning. Oh well." He walked over to the tree and picked up one of the presents that was left. "This one's mine. And the other one's are for Mom, Dad, and Grandma." He put the box back under the tree.

"You're not going to open it?" Reid asked, coming over to Luke.

"I'll open it later when my parents open theirs," Luke said.

"Look," Reid said, pointing at the ceiling.

Luke looked up. "Mistletoe."

"Did you know it was there?" Reid asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement.

Luke nodded and smiled guiltily.

Reid smirked, wrapped his arms around Luke's waist, and kissed him. Luke slipped his arms around Reid's neck, his fingers curling into Reid's hair.

After a minute, Reid broke his lips apart from Luke's, but left his arms wrapped around his waist.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked. Reid had a weird look on his face.

Reid didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then he started speaking slowly. "I know we've only been together for a month and that this might be moving too fast. And don't feel in any way obligated to say it back. But I've liked you since almost the first moment we met, you know that. And, well –" Reid paused. Luke was staring at him, wide-eyed. "I – I love you."

Luke breathed in sharply at Reid's words and blinked rapidly at him. "Do you mean that?"

Reid nodded.

Luke burst into a huge smile and crashed his lips onto Reid's, kissing him furiously. When they broke apart, Luke tightened his arms around Reid's neck, embracing him. "I love you, too," Luke whispered into Reid's ear.

At that moment, Lily, Holden, and Charles walked into the room, Natalie and Ethan right behind them.

"Luke and Reid are kissing!" Natalie squealed, pointing at the two teenage boys.

"No we're not, Natalie," Luke said, releasing Reid's neck, but entwining his fingers with Reid's.

"Open your present, Luke," little five-year old Ethan said, waddling over to his older brother with the present Luke had left under the tree.

Luke regretfully let go of Reid's hand, took the gift from the little boy, and sat down on the couch, Reid on one side of him, Ethan on the other.

"Oh, wow!" Luke said, unwrapping a leather-bound version of _The Complete Works of Shakespeare_.

"I know when we were in the bookstore over the summer, you had said you wanted it," Lily said.

"Thank you!" Luke said, getting up and hugging his mom.

"Of course, baby," Lily said, returning the hug, as voices started to come from the kitchen.

"The others must be here," Holden said, leaving the room to greet the rest of his family who always arrived promptly at noon.

Sure enough, two minutes later, a pack of Snyders filed into the living room, chatting and laughing loudly. The newly arrived kids ran to greet their cousins and Natalie and Ethan dutifully let the adults hug and kiss them.

Luke grabbed Reid's hand and pulled him off the couch to introduce him to his extended family. Though he was uncomfortable with big family gatherings, Reid let himself be interrogated and examined by Luke's aunts and uncles because, well, because he loved Luke and it was important to Luke that he be liked by the Snyders.

When he was satisfied that his family had approved of Reid, Luke pulled him to a corner of the room where it was a little quieter.

"Sorry. It had to happen eventually," Luke said, sitting down on the floor.

"It's fine," Reid said, sitting across from Luke. He smiled a little as their legs brushed against each other. "Do they all come every year?"

"Usually. Unless they're having marital problems, which happens almost annually. This year everyone is actually together and no one's fighting. It should be a peaceful Christmas this year. What were your Christmases like before your mom died?" Luke asked.

"Usually the three of us and my grandmother," Reid answered.

"Is she still in Boston?"

Reid nodded. "She's my mom's mom. My dad didn't want to be so close to her. Too many memories."

"I'm sorry," Luke said, resting his hand on Reid's knee. "Do you miss her?"

"A little. We email, though," Reid said.

"Your grandmother emails?" Luke asked, amused.

Reid nodded.

"Wow! Neither of my grandmothers will go near a computer without a ten foot pole," Luke said.

Reid chuckled as Ethan came over to them.

"Luke, will you play my new games with me?"

"Sure, E," Luke said. "Go and get them."

Ethan ran away and was back within a minute with his new board games. Luke and Reid helped him set one up and understand how to play it. Although, Ethan didn't quite fully grasp the concept, Luke and Reid continued to play the way he wanted to. After an hour, Natalie plopped herself down and asked to join the game. Ethan was bored with the first game, so they put it away and opened the second one.

At four o'clock, Emma announced that dinner was ready. Ethan hastily put the game away and followed his older brother and sister and Reid into the kitchen.

Three hours later, everyone was stuffed to the gills with Emma's delicious Christmas dinner. Various people were helping to clean up the messy kitchen, while the kids went back into the living room to play Ethan's games again and watch TV.

Luke and Reid slipped upstairs unnoticed.

"It was getting kind of claustrophobic down there," Luke said, letting Reid into his bedroom.

"I liked it," Reid said, smiling and wrapping his arms Luke. "Your grandmother really knows how to cook."

Luke smiled. "I liked having you here."

Reid gently kissed Luke.

"Luke! Come say goodbye to your aunt and uncle!" Lily's voice called up the stairs.

Luke reluctantly broke away from the kiss.

"Come on," Reid said. "My dad probably wants to leave, too."

Two minutes later, Luke and Reid emerged back in the kitchen. Luke was immediately hugged goodbye by a couple of his aunts.

"You ready to go, Reid?" Charles Oliver asked his son, coming over to where Luke and Reid were standing.

"Sure," Reid said, though he sounded sad.

"I'll walk with you," Luke said, following Reid and his dad onto the porch.

"No, don't be ridiculous, Luke," Reid said, as his dad tactfully went outside to leave the two boys alone. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Luke pouted, but said, "Okay."

Reid smiled a little and pulled Luke into a hug. "I love you," Reid said.

Luke also smiled and said, "I love you, too."

After a few seconds, Reid broke the contact, but ran the palm of his hand across Luke's cheek before exiting the porch and walking home with his dad.


	16. Chapter 16

A week later on New Year's Eve, Luke and Reid were sitting at a table in Java, drinking coffee.

"What are you doing tonight?" Reid asked.

"My grandmother usually has a company party, but since she's sick I don't think there's one this year," Luke said.

"Do you want to come over to my place? We could watch a movie and then watch the ball drop."

"I'd love to," Luke said, smiling and taking Reid's hand, which was lying on the table. "But what about your dad?"

Reid pursed his lips. "Apparently, he has a date."

"A date?" Luke asked, confused. "Like with a woman?"

Reid nodded tersely.

"It bothers you, doesn't it?" Luke said softly, as the bell rang to announce the entrance of a new customer.

"My mom died six months ago, Luke. And he's dating again?"

"Well, everyone moves on at different times," Luke said gently. "She's your mom. You're never going to get over losing her. But do you really want your dad to be alone for the rest of his life?"

Reid stared sadly at Luke. Before he could answer, a shadow crossed their table and they found Kevin standing next to them.

"What do you want, Kevin?" Luke asked, annoyed.

"Nothing. Just wanted to say hello," Kevin said.

"Really?" Luke asked, looking skeptically at the boy.

"You said what you wanted to say, so please leave," Luke said.

"Jesus, Snyder, I didn't know you were so rude," Kevin said.

"Yeah, well, I stopped caring about being rude to you when stopped being my friend," Luke retorted.

"Fine, I see that I'm not wanted here," Kevin said and stormed out of the coffee shop.

"He really gets to you," Reid said.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten so rude," Luke said. "It's just all of the sudden he wants to be my friend again. I feel like he's just doing it to get on my nerves."

"If he is, it's working," Reid said with the hint of a smile.

The ends of Luke's mouth twitched. "I don't get it," Luke said. "Why now?"

"Maybe he got over the fact that you're gay?" Reid suggested.

"No," Luke said slowly. "Kevin's not like that. If he's disturbed by something, he's stays disturbed by it for, like, five years."

"I don't know, then," Reid said.

"Whatever," Luke said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Damn, I was supposed to bring Natalie and Ethan up to the farm twenty minutes ago."

"I'll come with you," Reid said, standing up and throwing out his empty coffee cup.

Luke smiled. "Did I ever tell you how much I enjoy having you as my boyfriend?"

"No, I don't believe you have," Reid said, smirking and entwining their fingers together, as they walked into Olde Towne.

Luke failed in his attempt to not smile.

"Luke!" a voice called from across the square.

"Hi, Maddie, Casey," Luke said, coming to a halt near a bench in the center of the plaza.

"You must be Reid," Maddie said, smiling. "I've seen you around school, but I don't think we've ever had a conversation."

"Sorry!" Luke said. "Reid this is my friend Maddie and her boyfriend Casey. Maddie, Casey, this is my boyfriend Reid," Luke said proudly.

"Yeah, we figured it out, dude," Casey said, gesturing to their entwined hands. Maddie playfully spanked him on the arm.

"You want to get a cup of coffee with us?" Maddie asked.

"Sorry, Mad. We're going to pick up Natalie and Ethan and bring them to the farm. I'm already late," Luke said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it," Maddie said, waving her hand. "See you next year." She smiled at her bad joke and dragged Casey into the coffee shop.

Luke chuckled. "Come on," Luke said, tugging on Reid's hand, pulling him away from Java, and out of the plaza.

At eight o'clock, Luke rang the doorbell to Reid's house. Two seconds later, Reid was standing in the doorway and pulling Luke into the house.

"Hi," Luke said, a little startled at Reid's urgency.

"Help me," Reid said.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, concerned.

"My dad's date is here," Reid whispered.

Sure enough, Luke heard a woman's laughter floating into the hallway from the kitchen.

"Reid, we'll be back around two," Charles Oliver said, coming into the corridor, his date behind him. "Hello, Luke."

"Hi, Mr. Oliver," Luke said.

"Hello, Luke!" the woman greeted.

"Katie?" Luke asked.

"Hi!" Katie Snyder said, embracing Luke.

Reid stared at Luke, confused.

"We're going to be late," Charles said, taking Katie's hand and pulling her to the door. "I'm trusting you two alone in the house. No funny business."

"No funny business, Dad," Reid said.

"It was great seeing you, Luke," Katie said and followed Charles out of the house.

"You know her?" Reid asked as soon as the door closed.

"She's my cousin! Well, actually she was married to my dad's cousin. He died about a year ago on the day their son was born."

"That sucks," Reid said, walking into the living room with Luke behind him.

"It was awful," Luke said. "I can't even imagine having to go through something like that. I don't think I could survive it."

"You'd be fine," Reid said, looking at Luke. "But let's not talk about it. It's really depressing. Tonight was supposed to be enjoyable."

"Sorry," Luke said, smiling. "What movie do you want to watch?"

"_Avatar_? It's not in 3-D, but it's a good movie for New Year's," Reid said.

"I agree," Luke responded, flopping down on the couch.

Reid smiled slightly and put the movie in the DVD player. Once he was convinced that the movie was going to play properly, he sat down on the couch next to Luke, who immediately shifted the way he was sitting in order to rest his head on Reid's shoulder. Smiling, Reid wrapped his arm around Luke's shoulders.

"Do you want popcorn?" Reid asked.

"No. I'm good," Luke said contentedly, entwining one of his hands with the one of Reid's that wasn't holding him.

"Have you seen the movie?" Reid asked, pressing the play button.

"Mmhm," Luke assented. "Natalie didn't like it because she said the story was an exact copy of _Pocahontas_, except in space."

Reid chuckled.

"You've seen it, right?" Luke asked.

"It was the last movie my mom saw," Reid said quietly, his words barely audible above the sounds of the movie.

Luke picked his head up off of Reid's shoulder to look at him. "We don't have to watch, Reid. We could play a game or something," Luke said.

"No. It's fine," Reid said. "My dad's trying to remove all memories of her. I don't want to do that."

"Are you sure?"

Reid nodded.

Luke kissed Reid's cheek and put his head back on his shoulder. The two boys fell into silence and watched the movie.

Three hours later, the movie credits rolled onto the screen.

Luke released Reid's hand to allow him to take the DVD out of the player. As Reid sat back down on the couch, Luke yawned.

"You're tired," Reid said immediately.

"No. I'm fine," Luke said, though he yawned again.

"No you're not. Why don't you go to sleep?"

"But the ball!"

"I'll wake you at five to midnight," Reid said, shifting on the couch so that Luke could stretch out next to him.

"Promise?"

Reid nodded.

"Okay," Luke said, laying down on the couch and resting his head on Reid's chest. Reid wrapped his arms around Luke and kissed the top of his head.

Luke smiled and was asleep within seconds.

When Charles Oliver and Katie Snyder arrived back at the house around one o'clock, they found Luke and Reid entwined with each other on the couch, both fast asleep.

"They must have watched a movie and then fallen asleep," Katie whispered.

"Should we leave them?" Charles asked, as Luke stirred.

Luke blinked his eyes open and saw Charles and Katie staring at them.

"Hi, sweetie," Katie said gently.

"What happened?" Luke said groggily.

"You boys fell asleep."

"Oh no!" Luke said, sitting up and waking Reid in the process.

"What's wrong?" Reid said, rubbing his eyes. A second later, he saw his father and sat up on the couch.

"Dad!"

"Why don't you take the car and drive Luke to the farm?" Charles Oliver said, handing Reid the keys.

Reid took the keys from his father and walked into the hallway, Luke behind him. Luke grabbed his jacket, as did Reid, and they left the house.

Five minutes later, Reid pulled into the driveway of the Snyder farm. Luke fumbled in his coat pocket for the keys – it was late and the door would be locked – and quietly opened the door to the kitchen.

"We missed the ball drop," Luke said sadly. "It was the first New Year's I had someone to kiss and I missed it!"

"Who says you missed it?" Reid asked, stepping closer to Luke.

"It's a quarter after one," Luke said.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Where's the rule that the kiss has to be at midnight?" Reid said.

"What are you saying?" Luke asked, smirking.

Reid smiled mischievously, grabbed Luke's hands, and crashed their lips together.

After a few minutes the two boys broke apart, breathing heavily.

"Happy New Year, Luke," Reid said.

"Happy New Year," Luke responded, smiling and yawning again.

"You should really go to bed," Reid said.

Luke nodded.

"Text me when you get home," Luke said, walking Reid to the door.

"I will."

"I love you," Luke said.

"I love you, too," Reid said, swiftly kissing Luke again and walking out to his dad's car.

Fifteen minutes later, as he slid under the covers of his bed, Luke's phone buzzed with a text message from Reid: _Got home fine. Going to bed. _

Luke quickly responded: _Me too. Talk to you tmro. Love you. Goodnight._

Reid answered two seconds later: _Love you too. _

Luke was asleep in a split second, a smile on his face and his hand still wrapped around his cell phone.


	17. Chapter 17

A couple weeks later, Luke and Reid were sitting in the library of Oakdale High. They were doing some last minute studying for the AP Biology test they had next period, but Luke was tired of science and didn't want to study anymore.

Frustrated, he slammed his book shut and knocked his head against the cover.

"Ugh," Luke groaned.

"Come on, Luke," Reid said, a little frustrated.

"I hate science," Luke mumbled.

Reid smiled slightly. "But I love it, and you love me," Reid said quietly.

Luke looked at him and smiled. "Doesn't mean I have to like science," Luke pouted.

"No, but at least try. For me?"

"Fine," Luke said, reluctantly re-opening his text book.

Reid swiftly kissed Luke on the cheek just as the bell rang.

"Let's do this," Reid said.

"Let's get this over with," Luke responded, shouldering his bag and walking into the hallway, his fingers entwined with Reid's.

On the way to class, the two boys passed Kevin who gave them something between a smile and a grimace, but none of them said anything. Luke, however, did look behind him to see where Kevin was going.

"Ignore him," Reid said, squeezing his hand to bring him back to focus as they came upon the science classroom.

"Come on," Luke said, dragging Reid into the room.

Luke and Reid emerged an hour later, Reid chatting excitedly about the questions on the test and Luke glaring at him, completely annoyed with Biology.

"That was awful, Reid," Luke said during one of Reid's pauses.

"It was awesome! So much fun," Reid said, flashing Luke and huge grin.

"You're joking, right?" Luke asked.

"No," Reid said, following Luke into the cafeteria for lunch.

"Well, it was _not_ fun for me, so can we please stop talking about it?" Luke asked, grabbing a tray of food and leading Reid to a table.

"I'm sorry. I'm being obnoxious," Reid said.

"Just a little," Luke said.

Reid smiled and popped a handful of tater tots into his mouth.

"Hi," a voice said behind Luke. A second later, Kevin dropped into one of the empty chairs.

Luke and Reid both stared at Kevin, their forks hanging in the air.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked.

"Eating lunch," Kevin said, indeed eating.

"I mean, why are you sitting here?" Luke amended.

"Why shouldn't I? Come on, Snyder? Don't you have room at your table for your best friend?"

"You're not my best friend, Kevin. In fact, last time I checked you weren't my friend at all," Luke snapped.

"What? I'm not allowed to change my mind?" Kevin asked hotly.

"Oh no, you are," Luke said. "But I don't want to be friends with someone who can't accept me for who I am."

"Who says I don't?" Kevin asked, his voice getting louder.

"You did!" Luke said, equally loud. Other kids at tables near them were starting to stare. Reid placed his hand on top of Luke's to calm him down.

Kevin pursed his lips. "Can we talk? Outside?"

"Fine," Luke grunted. Reid made to stand up, but Luke said, "It's alright."

Luke wordlessly walked past Kevin and out of the cafeteria.

"What do you want from me, Kevin?" Luke barked as soon as they were in the hallway together.

"I just want to be friends again," Kevin said.

"Why? The second I came out to you you wanted nothing to do with me!" Luke said, pointing at Kevin and nearly poking him in the chest.

"I – I know. That was a stupid thing to do. But I'm over that now and I want to be friends again," Kevin said.

"Why?" Luke asked, as the bell rang.

"For – for old time's sake," Kevin said, but he wasn't entirely convincing.

Luke looked at him suspiciously, but said, "Fine. I guess we can try. At least for the team," as Reid came up behind Kevin.

"We're going to be late for class," Luke said.

Kevin nodded and walked away.

"You okay?" Reid asked, handing Luke his bag.

"He wants to be friends again. 'For old time's sake'," Luke mocked, taking his bag from Reid.

"What did you say?"

"I said fine, but I don't know if anything's going to come of it," Luke said, stopping in front of his English classroom. "We're on the basketball team together, but outside of that, I have no idea what he wants. Tomorrow he could be pushing me into lockers."

"Whatever he wants, I won't let him hurt you," Reid said.

Luke smiled. "Thank you. Let's just see what happens. I'll see you later."

Reid nodded and kissed Luke briefly before heading off to his AP Calc class.


	18. Chapter 18

The next day Luke and Reid were sitting in Java, both sipping steaming cups of hot chocolate.

"I love when we get snow days," Luke said, grinning.

"I still can't believe that they cancelled school for two inches of snow," Reid said. "In Boston, they don't cancel school even when there's two _feet_ of snow."

"Well, I'm sorry that Oakdale can't clear away snow as quickly as Boston," Luke said sarcastically.

Reid smirked.

They were silent for a couple minutes and then Luke suddenly said, "Friday is Valentine's Day."

"I know," Reid said, smiling a little.

Luke narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Did you have something planned?"

"Maybe," Reid responded mysteriously.

Luke raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Aw. That's adorable," a voice said from behind Luke. Neither Luke nor Reid had noticed Kevin approach their table, and both were startled when he spoke.

Luke clenched his teeth and turned around.

"Kevin, please explain to me why you are _always_ around eavesdropping on us," Luke barked.

"Don't have a horse, Luke. I wasn't eavesdropping," Kevin said, though Luke didn't believe him.

"Then go away," Reid said.

"Alright. Alright. I'm leaving," Kevin said, exiting the coffee shop.

"Remind me why I agreed to sort of be friends with him again?" Luke asked Reid.

"Because you sort of _want_ to be friends with him again," Reid said without missing a beat.

Luke smiled. "So…about those Valentine's Day plans?" Luke pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket.

"You'll find out on Friday," Reid said. "What's wrong?" Luke had frowned at the text message he had just received.

"Kevin wants to talk to me," Luke said.

"He just did," Reid said.

"He wants me to meet him at the farm," Luke said, looking at Reid.

Reid frowned. "I'm coming with you."

"No. I want to find out what he wants, and if you're there, he won't tell me," Luke said, standing up.

Reid frowned.

"I'll come over to your place as soon as I'm done," Luke said, trying to appease his boyfriend.

"Fine," Reid said, though he still frowned as they walked out of the coffee shop towards Luther's Corners.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke and Reid were standing outside of the Snyder barn, Reid very reluctant to let Luke go in without him.

"I'll be fine," Luke crooned, kissing Reid swiftly and entering the barn, shutting the door behind him.

Reid clenched his teeth together and slowly walked towards his house, as he heard Luke curtly greet Kevin inside the barn.

"What do you want, Kevin?" Luke asked when he walked into the barn and saw the other boy sitting on a bale of hay.

"Thanks for meeting me," Kevin said, standing up.

"What do you want?" Luke repeated, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kevin took a deep breath and said, "Before, in Java, you asked me why I was always hanging around you and Oliver. I wanted to explain before you get a restraining order or something," Kevin smiled, clearly thinking he had made a joke.

Luke scowled and did not smile.

Blinking and clearing his throat, Kevin continued, "Last summer when you told me you were into me –"

"You ran away and wanted nothing to do with me," Luke interrupted.

"I – I know. But there was a reason for that. I didn't realize it at the time, but I do now, and I have since I saw you with him," Kevin said, as Luke dropped his arms to his sides, his mouth hanging slightly open. "I ran away because I was scared," Kevin said, all in one breath.

"Of what?" Luke said quietly, almost in a whisper.

Kevin opened his mouth, but shut it again without speaking. Instead, he slowly walked towards Luke, who remained standing stock-still, his face more ashen than it had been before. Within seconds Kevin had closed the gap between them.

Luke was breathing heavily now, as Kevin's face came within inches of his own. Kevin looked at him for only a second before reaching up and pulling him into a kiss.

Luke closed his eyes, but did not kiss back. As he was about to pull away, there was a crash and the two boys broke apart. Luke looked up to see Reid standing in the doorway of the barn, pure shock and hurt etched on his face.

Luke and Reid stared at each other for a couple seconds and then Reid ran out of the barn, slamming the door behind him.


	19. Chapter 19

Luke watched Reid slam the barn door behind him, and panic enveloped him. Luke pulled his eyes away from the door and looked at Kevin. There was an oddly blank expression on his face.

"Luke –" Kevin started, but Luke's glare cowed him.

Luke gave Kevin one final, disgusted look and ran out of the barn after Reid. Once outside, Luke didn't see Reid anywhere, so he headed in the direction of the Oliver house. When he got there the door was closed, but Luke banged furiously upon it. After a minute, the door opened and Charles Oliver stood staring at Luke.

"Hello, Luke," Charles said.

"Is Reid here?" Luke asked without pretense.

"He just got back. He's in his room," Charles said, as Luke barreled past him and up the stairs.

When he was outside Reid's room, Luke stopped and stared at the closed door. Taking a deep breath, Luke knocked twice.

"Go away," Reid said, muffled because it was behind the wood.

Not caring, Luke tried the doorknob and found it was unlocked, so he pushed open the door and walked into Reid's room.

"Reid," Luke said tentatively. Reid was lying on his back on his bed, throwing a baseball into the air and catching it as came back down.

"Shouldn't you be with your boyfriend?" Reid asked, his voice strained.

"I am!" Luke said a little loudly.

Reid stopped throwing the ball and sat up to look at Luke, albeit with a scowl on his face. Before Luke could say anything, Reid said, "Is that why you didn't want me to go in with you? Because you wanted to make out with him?"

"What?" Luke asked incredulously. "Of course not! He kissed me, Reid! It was the least thing I was expecting. If I'd known what was going to happen, I would have let you come inside!"

Reid was quiet for a minute, fiddling with a loose thread on his comforter. Then he asked quietly, "Did you kiss him back?"

"No," Luke said emphatically and climbed onto the bed to sit next to Reid. "There was a time, about a year ago, when I would have welcomed a kiss from Kevin Davis. But not now." Luke slid one of his hands into one of Reid's. "I love _you_, Reid. _You _are the one that I want to be with."

Reid looked at Luke. Luke saw that there was still sadness and hurt in Reid's eyes, so he grabbed Reid's face and crashed their lips together.

Reid froze for a second, but then snaked his arms around Luke's waist and returned the kiss. Luke slid his arms from Reid's face and wrapped them around his neck. As he slipped his tongue into Luke's mouth, Reid fell back on the bed, pulling Luke on top of him.

After five minutes of heated making out, the two boys broke apart, both breathing very heavily. Luke smiled at Reid and rolled onto the bed, so that they were lying face-to-face, their fingers intertwined.

"I'm sorry," Reid said, playing with Luke's fingers with his free hand. "I over reacted."

"No," Luke said, running his free hand through Reid's curls. "I would have reacted the same way."

"So…Kevin likes you," Reid said.

"Apparently," Luke said unsmilingly. "I guess that's why he's been stalking us. He's jealous."

"What are you going to do?" Reid asked.

Luke shrugged. "I have to talk to him about it and make it clear that I'm not interested. After that…I don't know."

They were silent for a few minutes, and then Luke asked, "So, are those plans for Valentine's Day still on?"

Reid smiled. "Do you want them to be?"

Luke nodded enthusiastically.

"Then they are," Reid said.

Luke grinned and kissed Reid again.


	20. Chapter 20

Friday came rather quickly that week and Reid found himself sitting in home room waiting for Luke to get there. As he picked up his Biology book from under his desk, Reid heard the door open and looked up expectantly, but instead found Kevin Davis walking into the classroom.

When he realized that Reid was the only other person in the room, Kevin stopped dead in his tracks and made to turn around when Reid said, "Wait!"

"What?" Kevin asked, his back still the future doctor.

"I want to talk about the other day. You've been avoiding Luke," Reid said, standing up.

"Well, then, that should give you a clue that I don't want to talk to you either," Kevin said, turning around as Luke walked in the door.

"You don't have a choice Kevin," Luke said, stepping around Kevin so he could look at him.

Kevin clenched his jaw and glared at Luke.

"Look, there's no one here yet," Luke said. "We might as well talk."

"What do you want me to say?" Kevin asked.

"I want to know what the hell is going on with you! You completely turn your back on me after I come out to you, and then six months later you're kissing me in my barn! What am I supposed to think, Kevin?"

Kevin blinked at him. Then he said, "Fine. When you came out to me, I ended our friendship because I was struggling with my own feelings and wasn't ready to deal with them the way you were. And then you started dating him," Kevin pointed at Reid, "and I realized I was jealous, alright."

Luke blinked at Kevin, his mouth hanging slightly open. As he was about to respond, a group of students walked through the door, followed closely by the teacher. In a split second, Kevin was sitting at his desk, his back to Luke, who clenched his teeth and sat down at the desk next to Reid's.

Two hours later, Luke and Reid were sitting at the lunch table. Reid was voraciously devouring the spaghetti and meatballs, but Luke was twirling the noodles around his fork without eating them.

"Luke, are you alright?" Reid asked.

"It's so frustrating!" Luke said.

"Eating?" Reid asked, confused.

Luke's mouth twitched as he shook his head. "Kevin!"

Reid mumbled "Oh" and stabbed one of his meatballs harder than was necessary.

"After all this time, he decides that he has feelings for me? Why couldn't have told me that when I told him that I had feelings for him?"

"I don't know, Luke. But if it matters that much to you, why don't you just ask him tonight on your Valentine's Day date?" Reid said angrily, sliding his tray off the table and storming out of the cafeteria.

Luke watched him go, a look of horror on his face. Slowly, he got up from the table, dumped his tray on the conveyor belt, and walked towards AP Bio where he knew Reid had gone, since it was their next class. Taking a deep breath, Luke pulled open the door and walked inside.

Reid was sitting at their table, his face buried in his Bio textbook. As they were still ten minutes early for class, the rest of the room was empty. Luke made his way to Reid, who looked up only when Luke was sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry," Luke said. "I totally forgot today is Valentine's Day."

"That's fine, really. I didn't want to spend it with you anyway," Reid said, staring straight ahead at the board in his attempt not to smile.

Luke snorted in laughter. "I _do not_ want to date Kevin Davis. I want to date _you_. I promise," Luke said, moving his stool closer to Reid so he could kiss him on the cheek. "Can I still come to dinner with you?"

Reid smiled and nodded.

Four hours later, Luke and Reid were sitting a table in the Lakeview. At Reid's request, Lily had reserved a private table for them and made sure that they had anything they asked for.

"Reid, this is amazing," Luke said, smiling widely at his boyfriend. "How did you get this? It's really expensive."

"Don't worry about it. The owner said it's on her," Reid said, smirking.

"You asked my mom," Luke said and Reid nodded. "I thought you weren't a sappy romantic?"

"I'm not," Reid said. "But doing this just felt…right."

Luke grinned and blushed slightly.

"It's perfect," Luke said, as their food was placed in front of them.

When they had finished their food – the meal was on the house, thanks to Lily – Luke and Reid made their way back to Reid's house.

"My dad is out with Katie. Do you want to come inside?" Reid asked, his eyes twinkling.

Luke nodded and followed Reid into the house. In what seemed like two seconds, the two boys were on Reid's bed, Luke on top of Reid, their mouths working furiously against each other, their tongues fighting for control. Reid rolled them over so that he was on top of Luke. Trailing kisses across Luke's jawbone and down his neck, Reid began unbuttoning Luke's shirt like an expert. Breathing heavily and his eyes closed, Luke proceeded to follow suit and began unbuttoning Reid's shirt. Still on top, Reid slowly worked his way down Luke's neck and onto his now-bare chest. But as his fingers fumbled with Luke's belt, Reid felt his hands grabbed and pulled away.

"Wait," Luke said, his eyes now open. Reid looked at him, confused. Luke pushed himself into a sitting position, and Reid rolled off of him onto the bed. "I don't think I'm ready."

Reid frowned.

"It's not that I don't want to do this with you, Reid. Because I really, _really _do," Luke clarified, taking Reid's face in his hands and kissing him hard. "Just not tonight."

Reid blinked at Luke and then said, "I'm nervous, too, Luke. I've never done it before either. But I want it to feel right for both of us. So, I'll wait." Reid smiled a little.

Luke grinned and kissed Reid again. "Thank you. But, just so you know, it doesn't mean we can't still make out," Luke said mischievously, his eyes twinkling.

Reid smirked and crashed their lips together.


End file.
